It is usual to provide pneumatic vehicle tires, both for automobiles and for commercial vehicles, with a two-part tread, which includes a tread cap, which comes into contact with the road surface during rolling of the tire, and a tread base. The tread cap is made from a rubber compound optimized with respect to abrasion and the tread base is made from a rubber compound optimized with respect to hysteresis. In addition to the rolling resistance of a tire, the tread base also affects its handling (road handling), with optimization of one property being at the expense of the other property.
Pneumatic vehicle tires of the type stated at the beginning, with additional division of the tread base into different zones over the axial width, are known from the prior art. The division of the base is used for adapting the properties of the tire even better to the required conditions.
For example, DE 10 2006 012 536 A1 describes a pneumatic vehicle tire, especially a commercial vehicle tire, which for improved belt durability and for reduced rolling resistance has a divided tread base, which is formed in its lateral segments from a compound with a higher thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of this compound is higher than that of the tread cap and that of the central segment of the tread base. Improvement of the rolling resistance of a pneumatic vehicle tire by configuring the tread base to be softer in the middle and harder in the lateral zones, with the outer segments being formed with higher hysteresis, that is, with smaller rebound elasticity, is known from DE 198 50 766 A1. However, with pneumatic vehicle tires with such a structure of the tread base it has been found that tire handling is impaired.